TORONTO, March 17, 2003 -- Theatre @ York’s season culminates with a production of Canadian playwright Gwendolyn MacEwen’s masterly adaptation of the classic Greek drama The Trojan Women by Euripides. Award-winning director and York theatre alumna Jeanette Lambermont directs the show, opening March 25 at York University.
Trojan Women is an exploration of the ravages of war and its victims: primarily women who suffer a loss of identity in the context of a devastated city and who face a future of impending slavery and the (near) obliteration of hope. The play examines human survival in the midst of extreme desolation. A theme of such contemporary relevance has inspired numerous adaptations, among them MacEwen's potent re-working of the text. First produced in Toronto in 1978, MacEwen’s Trojan Women is possibly even more darkly beautiful and horrific than the original.
"In the current climate of aggression, in the face of a third world war in Iraq, in the shadow of the World Trade Center tragedy, this play speaks volumes", says Lambermont. "But are we the Greeks or the Trojans?"
Lambermont is co-artistic director of the newly formed Toronto-based theatre company DDT. A veteran stage director, she has worked eight seasons with the Stratford Festival, where her recent credits include Henry V, As You Like It, Pride and Prejudice and The Miracle Worker. During her earlier years with the Festival she directed Titus Andronicus and The Grand Inquisitor/Swan Song as well as serving as collaborating director on The Comedy of Errors and The Relapse and assisting Richard Monette on The Taming of the Shrew and John Neville on Othello.
In 2001, Lambermont directed the World Leaders Tributes to Harold Pinter and Robert Rauschenberg as part of the internationally acclaimed series produced by Harbourfront. Other directing credits include Private Lives at the Atlantic Theatre Festival; The Beauty Queen of Leenane at both the Manitoba Theatre Centre and Virginia Stage Company; Doc for the Great Canadian Theatre Company in Ottawa; Where Is Kabuki? for Factory Theatre, Toronto; and Twelfth Night in High Park for CanStage, which won the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Production.
Theatre @ York productions showcase the talents of the students in York University’s Theatre Department. The cast for Trojan Women is an ensemble of fourth-year undergraduate and graduate actors, and features Monique Blackman, Anna Cantalini, Christian Dives, Erin Francis, Kieran Gallant, Joshua Jacobson, Jennifer Kim, Stephanie Lalor, Nicole Landau, Adam Lawrence, Lauren Lipson, Michael MacDonald, Tania McCartney, Laura McLean, Rebecca Nicholson, Tanya Smith, Craig Stanghetta, Richard Stewart, Nelson Tomé, Imelda Villalon and Samantha Wilson. Set design is by Megan Carr-Harris Mason, costumes by Kristen O’Reilly, and lighting design by Regan Neudorf. Fourth-year production student Siobhán Sleath stage manages the production.
Location: Burton Auditorium, York University
Playdates/Times:
Previews: Sun. Mar. 23 & Mon. Mar. 24 at 7:30 p.m.
Opening: Tues. Mar. 25 at 7:30 p.m.
Run: Daily through Sat. Mar. 29 at 7:30 p.m.
Matinees: Wed. Mar. 26 & Fri. Mar. 28 at 1:00 p.m.
Tickets:
Sunday Preview: Pay-What-You-Can (suggested minimum donation $5)
Monday Preview: $5 Students/Seniors: $8
General Admission: $12 Group: $5
Box Office: tel. 416-736-5172 ext. 3
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Media contact:
| Nathalie-Roze Fischer | |
| Communications - Faculty of Fine Arts | |
| York University | |
| 416-736-2100, ext. 20421 | |
| nfischer@yorku.ca | |
